(Nintendo DS, Release Date: Oct 19th 2010)

Larry cleans up his act with a warm towel.

The Leisure Suit Larry franchise has been around for over twenty years, and it seems it has taken it this long to grow up. While each installment of the series seemed to be just another pretext to interact with big-bosomed babes, LSL: DS has remarkably cleaned up its act. No more lusty innuendos. No tried and tired "That's what she said" jokes. Instead, LSL: DS offers an innocent adventure for the whole family. Finally.

You play as Larry Laffer III, the illegitimate grandson of the original game's protagonist who, while on an unexplained visit to the Mexican border town of Tijuana, runs into a lost boy. With nothing better to do, you selflessly embark in a quest to help the boy find his father. Most of your time in the game is spent exploring Tijuana and asking its denizens—men and women alike—for clues as to the boy's father's whereabouts.

The game's controls are entirely stylus-based. The exploration portion is reminiscent of a Professor Layton game where you tap the screen to direct your character, boy in tow. Interactions with the game's NPCs, however, play more like Elite Beat Agents: encounters with female NPCs consist in tapping the correct regions of the screen with accurate timing, whereas male encounters culminate in a sequence, inexplicably named "The Rimming Round", which consists in spinning a wheel at various speeds and in alternating directions—again, much like EBA.

The game doesn't beat around the bush and the search for Ivan's (that must be the boy's name, as it is all he ever says) father is rather fast-paced. The adventure takes you through several locales that are quite varied and typical of Tijuana's attractions. As you progress through the game, Larry evolves thanks to a number of power-ups, in the form of cute accessories (the Cincinnati bowtie is a hoot!) or consumable items, like the Brownsville brownie.

Not all of the story elements are crystal clear, however. For instance, the portion of the game taking place on the so-called Glass Bottom Boat Tour is quite puzzling and surprisingly dark. (I even had to increase the screen brightness to make out what was going on.) The dialogs can also be confusingly repetitive at times, as the following interaction illustrates:

At some point, Larry asks a hospital nurse: "Can you feel it?" First of all, it's not at all clear what "it" is. The nurse replies: "Oh, yes, I can feel it." Normally, it seems that the dialog should end here. But Larry asks her again: "Can you feel it now?" The nurse, who becomes a bit aggravated, confirms: "Oh yes, yes, I can feel it." One would think the matter would have been solved by now… but Larry asks her one more time! Naturally, the nurse starts screaming. Poor thing, put yourself in her position. Has Larry suddenly gone deaf? If so, they should tell us why. No element in the story points to anything suggesting he might have been injured. It's very confusing.

In a similar vein, the aesthetics of the game leave something to be desired. First of all, some character models have been recycled from previous installments. This wouldn't have been such an issue but, given that the game goes out of its way to provide the player with a family-friendly experience, it is a shame that some of the female NPCs cleavages still take up a large portion of the screen(s). This creates some sort of cognitive dissonance that the player could have done without, especially given the already confusing aspects of certain sequences. Lastly, it is surprising that the developers chose Ivan (the little boy) to be so unattractive. The kid is downright ugly, what with those large ears all but covering his face, leaving only his buck teeth apparent. This seems like a poor choice of art design.[1]

CLOSING COMMENTS

All in all, Leisure Suit Larry: Dirty Sanchez is a fun adventure that provides a most welcome and refreshing change of scenery. While it's nothing we haven't seen before in terms of gameplay, it's an entertaining and innocent adventure that anyone can pick up. LSL: DS will certainly delight the most casual gamers in the family, even grandma.

THE VERDICT:

+ Family friendly game/no more lame innuendos

+ Clever use of stylus controls

- Some dialogs can get repetitive

- Some story elements difficult to follow

7.1 Decent

[1] Post-publication note : Now that I've finished the game with the "good" ending, it becomes clear why Ivan looks that way. But still, he's really ugly.